The British, for example, re-adopted heavy vertical side armour because вЂ“ among other things вЂ“ it improved reserve buoyancy, offered better protection against shell splinters passing below the system in a sea-way than sloped internal armour, and was easier to repair. In point of fact, direct comparison with ships of other nations is difficult because the staff requirements and design philosophies of the various naval powers varied, leading to differences in engineering outcome. How they might have matched up to, for instance, GermanyвЂ™s contemporary вЂHвЂ™ class battleships is difficult to say in general terms they were lighter, but otherwise comparable. Two more вЂ“ Thunderer and Conqueror вЂ“ were projected for the 1939 programme, to be laid down in 1940. Two Lion class battleships вЂ“ Lion and Temeraire вЂ“ were authorised under the 1938 programme for laying down in 1939.

Credit: Garlicdesign, via Shipbucket, Creative Commons 4.0 non-commercial license. HMS Lion, pictured if completed to the modified design 16H of 1940. This sort of relationship between successive designs was not unusual. Although mounting nine Mk II 16-inch guns, they had a similar protection scheme and were not radically faster. Despite a jump in size and fire-power, however, they were conceptually related to the preceding King George VвЂ™s. However, the British could not build to the new limit for financial, industrial and infrastructure reasons, so the 1938 Lions were not far over 40,000 tons. This was a step up from the 35,000 tons of the Second London Naval Treaty. As we saw in the previous article, a protocol negotiated during 1938 increased the agreed limit on standard battleship displacement to 45,000 tons. The specific details of it emerged from the interaction between British industrial and infrastructure limitations and the break-down of the inter-war naval treaty system. The overall design was not as large as the equivalent US ships, the Iowa class, but was the largest Britain could both build and then support in service. The Lion was the fastest battleship developed by Britain to that time, with a main armament of new-style 16-inch guns that were superior to the Mk I 16-inch weapons fitted to the Nelson class of the 1920s. By 1938 the five King George V class were under construction and the first two examples of their successors, the Lions, were due to be laid down in 1939. As war clouds loomed over Europe in the late 1930s, BritainвЂ™s last generation of battleships were well in hand.

Revenge class heavy carrier